U.S., Anglo-Saxon European, and non-Anglo-Saxon European cash holdings around the financial crisis

For the period 2003–2018, we show that U.S. firms have a higher cash-to-assets ratio than European firms have—in particular, among firms with high R&D expenditures and those in industries with high cash flow volatility, indicating the potential roles of precaution and uncertainty respectively in cash holding. We find evidence that industry cash flow volatility is relevant throughout the period, while R&D seems to matter only during the crisis years of 2008–2009. With respect to European cash holdings, there are slight differences between Anglo-Saxon European and non-Anglo-Saxon European firms.